This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Related article  • Similar articles in JAMA  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Phil B. Fontanarosa, MD; Drummond Rennie, MD

JAMA. 2000;283:2293-2294.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Avalanches pose a serious hazard for mountain climbers, skiers, and snowmobile riders. During the winter of 1998-1999, avalanches accounted for approximately 50 deaths in the United States and Canada and 150 deaths in Europe.¹ The likelihood of survival in an avalanche is largely related to how quickly the victim buried in snow is located and extricated. The probability of survival in relation to the time buried in an avalanche is estimated to be approximately 90% at 15 minutes but decreases to 30% at 35 minutes, with the increased mortality representing deaths from acute asphyxiation.² Survival is impossible without an air pocket.²

In this issue of THE JOURNAL, Grissom and colleagues³ report the results of a unique study of the physiologic changes that occur in experimental burial in snow, designed to simulate being covered with avalanche debris. The authors first measured changes in respiratory . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Author Affiliations: Drs Fontanarosa and Rennie are Deputy Editors, JAMA.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?

RELATED ARTICLE

Respiration During Snow Burial Using an Artificial Air Pocket
Colin K. Grissom, Martin I. Radwin, Chris H. Harmston, Ellie L. Hirshberg, and Thomas J. Crowley
JAMA. 2000;283(17):2266-2271.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT